---
aliases:
- Robert Gates
- Bob Gates
born: 1943-09-25
category: Intelligence & Government
location: Wichita, Kansas
summary: Robert Gates is an American government official who served as the Director
  of Central Intelligence (DCI) from 1991 to 1993.
tags:
- Person
- Stargate
- CIA
- RemoteViewer
---

Robert Gates is an American government official who served as the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) from 1991 to 1993. He was also an analyst on loan to the [NSC](/organizations/national-security-council/) from the [CIA](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/) during the [Cold War](/concepts/cold-war/)[^1][^2].

Gates was known to be a vocal adversary of the [psychoenergetic phenomena](/concepts/psychoenergetics/) programs within the [Pentagon](/organizations/pentagon/). He expressed skepticism about the [Remote Viewing](/concepts/remote-viewing/) program, particularly after [Joe McMoneagle](/people/joe-mcmoneagle/)'s remote viewing of the Typhoon class submarine, which Gates initially dismissed as defying logic[^2].

In 1986, Gates noted a significant buildup in advanced technology weapons facilities in both the [United States](/places/united-states/) and the [Soviet Union](/places/soviet-union/), particularly in areas like laser, particle beam, kinetic energy, and microwave technologies applicable to strategic weapons[^2].

Gates revealed details about the [Moscow Signal](/events/moscow-signal/) in his 1997 memoir, *From the Shadows*. He described how the CIA detected a new and more powerful set of Soviet microwave beams aimed at the [U.S. Embassy in Moscow](/places/us-embassy-in-moscow/) in 1973, code-named MUTS-2. He noted that these signals were regarded as posing a greater health hazard due to their duration and peculiar characteristics[^2].

On November 28, 1995, Gates appeared on *Nightline* with [Ted Koppel](/people/ted-koppel/) to discuss the [Stargate program](/programs/stargate-project/), where he downplayed the significance of the government's psychic research[^2].

### Remote Viewing

On ABC's *Nightline* of November 28, 1995, the night the [AIR evaluation](/events/1995-air-evaluation-of-star-gate/) of the remote-viewing program was released, Gates said that after the mid-1970s "CIA basically monitored the activities of other government agencies and what was going on in the academic community and then in mid 1980s, then-deputy director [John McMahon](/people/john-mcmahon/) formalized that. So, CIA really during that period had a very limited role"; that "I don't know of a single instance where it is documented that this kind of activity contributed in any significant way to a policy decision or even to informing policy makers about important information"; that "most intelligence professionals have been pretty skeptical of this. We got into it, I think, mainly because we heard the Soviets were involved and also because the Congress, individual members of the Congress and some staff pushed us into it"; and that "this is a pretty low priority for the intelligence community, and it's better done on the outside."[^3]

### Publications
*   *From the Shadows* (1997)

[^1]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
[^2]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
[^3]: "Psychic Spies: Cold War Whimsy or Secret Weapon?," ABC News *Nightline,* November 28, 1995, Radio TV Reports transcript for the CIA Public Affairs Staff, CIA-RDP99-01448R000402140001-7, read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room.